‘An object of indecipherable bastardy – a real monster: Homosociality, homoeroticism and generic hybridity in dead man’s shoes’

Schwarz, Clair

Abstract

This chapter explores Shane Meadows's approaches to genre, arguing that hybrid forms of film type are employed in order to underscore the elements of myth which are evident in his work. In particular, it looks at how evocations of the monster weave through the homosocial romances of the male characters and the way in which they exchange women, or their images, as a means to sure up those relationships. Drawing upon Sedgwick's notion of the erotic triangle and its homosocial dynamic, the chapter looks closely at the vengeance narrative of Dead Man's Shoes, arguing how tropes drawn from Jacobean theatre and genres such as the horror and the western, are particularly employed to question existing models of relationships, whether fraternal, paternal or the modern construct of the nuclear family. Through an examination of the different manifestation of violence in Meadows's work, the chapter suggests that rape, assault and murder are acts which make explicit the underlying homoerotophobia of the texts, with the figure of the monster as a liminal bridge between unconscious desire and physical action. It concludes that Meadows eventually abandons his generic conceits, offering instead a deliberate equivocation which dissolves any fixed notions of style.

Citation

Schwarz, C. (2013). ‘An object of indecipherable bastardy – a real monster: Homosociality, homoeroticism and generic hybridity in dead man’s shoes’. In Shane Meadows: Critical Essays (95-110). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748676392.003.0007

• Publication Date: Jul 31, 2013
• Deposit Date: Sep 16, 2022
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Pages: 95-110
• Edition: 1st
• Book Title: Shane Meadows: Critical Essays
• Chapter Number: 7
• ISBN: 9780748676392
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748676392.003.0007
• Keywords: Masculinity, Shane Meadows, Hybridity, Homoeroticism, Horror, British Cinema, Film authorship, Contemporary cinema, Realism, British working-class, Homoerotic, Homosocial, Vengeance, Myth, Monster, violence
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9987718
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/14752/chapter/168952118
• Related Public URLs: https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/14752